Founded as a coal mining camp in 1859, the city boomed under the weight of inrushing cowboys and gunslingers. Little gold was found, but the prospectors stayed anyway and so the city grew. There’s still a flavour of the Wild West to be found here, particularly if you explore a little way beyond the city […]

Pensacola has a claim to be America’s oldest European settlement – however, the initial site colonised by the Spanish in 1559 was decimated by a hurricane weeks later and shortly thereafter abandoned. It was another 135 years before the French arrived here, after which the natural deep water harbour and strategic position close to French, […]

The name Mackinaw City is a bit of a misnomer; with a population of just 859 in the 2000 census, it is little more than a village. Positioned at the southern end of the Mackinac Bridge – one of the longest suspension bridges in the world that bridges two of the great lakes at the […]

It was Francis Scott Key who, upon witnessing the failed bombardment of Baltimore by the British in 1812, composed the poem The Star-Spangled Banner that was later to provide the lyrics for the American national anthem. Baltimore has never forgotten its role in the revolution and sites like Fort McHenry are great places to explore […]

For more than a millennium, the ancient Hohokam tribe tended the desert in which Phoenix now sits, irrigating it with a series of canals bringing water from the rivers running from the White Tank Mountains. Then, in the centuries preceding Columbus, they vanished, leaving their ruined waterways as their only legacy. Phoenix was born out […]

It can be a challenge to sit still in Seattle. Flanked by the Olympic and Cascade mountains and pressed up against the shores of two great lakes, not to mention the verdant forest that has given it the nickname ‘Emerald City’, it can be hard to fight the urge to get out an explore. Yet […]

Colloquially known as “The Steel City” due to the former prominence of the industry, Pittsburgh has successfully reinvented itself as a diverse centre for sectors such as healthcare, technology and financial services. There’s a fresh and refined feel that belies its industrial reputation; in many ways, it’s one of America’s best kept secrets. Sat snugly […]

“Give me liberty or give me death!” Thus spoke Patrick Henry at the 1775 Virginia convention in Richmond, attended by George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, seen by historians as one of the key moments in the early days of the Revolutionary War. This is a former capital of the Confederacy on the site where John […]

While the rest of California reeled in the aftermath of the dotcom crash, San Diego continued to quietly get on with business. Though it lacks the wow factor of Los Angeles or the angelic beauty of San Francisco, the pleasant moderation of this green and open city can be a welcome breath of fresh air. […]

Albuquerque is a charming and understated city where traditional south-western USA meets an underground alternative culture that’s full of rewards and surprises for those willing to scratch beyond the surface. There are strong Hispanic and Native American influences here, too, seen in the jewellery stores and the Mexican-inspired cuisine, while the annual film festival is […]

You may think you don’t know St Louis, but you probably do; the iconic Gateway Arch is one of the most photographed buildings in America. This charming American city has a happy knack for feeling like home and you could easily mistake the guy in the street for your next door neighbour. Most citizens love […]

The sight of half ton trucks and bands of ice fisherman parked in the middle of Lake Harriet at 6am on a winter’s morning can seem bizarre at first, but it’s quintessential Minneapolis in its demonstration of simpler pleasures; most of the fish that get caught are thrown straight back in. One end of the […]